Catan Online at E3 2005
Program Manager Brett Roark Ventures Into the Fray

When you really love your product, you'll take every opportunity to tell the world about it. So imagine our delight to hear that Microsoft had chosen Catan Online as one of the featured games for its Games for Windows booth at E3 this year. I went along to help demo the game, and to see what people had to say!

Of course, competing with the sights and sounds of nearby booths (can you believe we were right next to a rock concert stage? For three days? My ears will never be the same), as well as games such as "Age of Empires III" in our own booth, was difficult. Still, a steady stream of fans stopped by to see Catan! Most of these people were already well familiar with the Catan universe, and wanted to sneak a peek at Catan Online. I was amazed by the number of people at a videogame conference who were obviously board game players as well!

Before the first day was even over, I'd lost track of how many times we showed the game. We also fielded a ton of questions, and after a while, I realized that most of them fell into one of several categories. I thought it might be fun to post the most common comments and questions here, along with the answers, so that players who didn't make it to E3 will still be "in the know."

I'll start with the comment that just about everyone made:

#1 "It's about time!"
BR: Don't we know it! There are a lot of Catan players on staff here, and we were thrilled to work on the project. Now we can play whenever we like, against nearly anyone, from anywhere. I mean, essentially, how cool is that?

#2 "When will it be live?"
BR: Right now! Currently, it's available on MSN Games as a free preview beta, although we're expecting the finished version of the game to launch in June. It's all very exciting.

#3 "How much will it cost?"
BR: MSN Games has put up a page for pricing information on each version of the game. The downloadable version has a one-time registration fee, and the online version has two different subscription options. Go take a look!

#4 "Can I play against the computer?"
BR: Of course! Both the downloadable and web versions of Catan have single-player support. You can play against up to three AI opponents in the downloadable version (Catan: The Computer Game), and two in the web version (Catan Online). The primary difference is that Catan Online also supports multiplayer, so if you'd like to challenge other players as well, that's the version you'll want.

#5 "I hope it has a good AI."
BR: We certainly believe it does. Our lead designer, Coleman Charlton, wrote a fascinating article on AI in a recent development diary for Catan: The Computer Game; please check it out if you haven't read it already!

#6 Are you going to do any of the expansions?
BR: Ah, ah! No fair asking for information I'm not allowed to give. For now, I'll just say that we've thoroughly enjoyed working with this property, and that we believe the Catan universe will continue to have a great future, both offline and on.

If you were one of the people who stopped by to visit us at E3, thank you very much! Overall, I thought it was a good show (although I would have preferred to be further away from the concert stage), and it certainly showed that board games such as Catan have been missing from the computer world for far too long. I'm glad that we are committed to this genre in general, and the Catan universe in particular, and I hope to be able to show more of this type of game at E3s to come!

You won't be able to miss me: I'll be the guy wearing earplugs.

Brett Roark
Program Manager, MSN Games